Entries Tagged 'Sydney FC' ↓

Last time we saw John Kosmina at Telstra Dome, he left us with his charming “dark forces” speech after his former team was destroyed by the Melbourne Victory in the Grand Final. Tomorrow night, he returns, this time at the helm of Sydney FC.

Whether it’s Kosmina’s prowess as a coach, or Michael Bridges prowess as a striker, something/one has renewed Sydney FC over the past fortnight — ever since Branko Culina was shown the proverbial door. With consecutive wins under their belt, Sydney will be insistent on making that three out of three, a win which could launch them into the top 4.

And yet, Sydney have never won in Melbourne, a record the Melbourne Victory will be keen to sustain tomorrow night. But they must do so with a dramatically re-arranged squad. Continue reading →

Turns out I was wrong about David Mitchell replacing Branko Culina as Sydney FC’s coach. John Kosmina was today unveiled as the new man for the job.

Ah, we just can’t get away from Kosmina, can we?

Unfortunately for Sydney and Kosmina, the FFA has insisted that the former Adelaide United coach serve out his five-game touchline ban, of which he has only served one match so far. That was against the Melbourne Victory in the Grand Final. Now it looks like Kosmina will again be directing his team from the grandstand at Telstra Dome when the Victory host Sydney on the 10th of November.

Suffice it to say that that news forced a chuckle:)

Some interesting news from other A-League clubs over the weekend:

• Branko Culina has been fired by Sydney FC. David Mitchell, who is currently the Perth Glory’s assistant coach, appears to be the most likely candidate to replace Culina. (The World Game)
• John Aloisi has been signed by the Central Coast Mariners. This is after negotiations with Sydney FC, Wellington Phoenix (where he could have played alongside the wrong… err… Ross Aloisi), Queensland Roar and Adelaide United. But, I hear you wonder, how can Central Coast afford a player like Aloisi without breaking the salary cap? The Football Tragic explains.

A couple of days behind the news perhaps, but having waited a few days, it’s fascinating to behold the fallout from the match. It was always going to be hotly contested whether Corica deserved to go off. Culina has only barely restrained his annoyance, but let out just enough to make sure everyone knew he wasn’t happy; “Please don’t ask me questions about the referee; I can’t afford to pay the fine“.  Meanwhile Sydney media has been keen to exploit the controversy. Sydney Morning Herald ran a rather blinkered opinion piece (not filed under opinion, but let’s face it – it was opinion) making claims that Steve Corica was “one of the fairest players in the country”. Puhleeeease…. come back to earth! Corica may well be a fair player, but as Mike Salter from The Football Tragic rightly points out, Corica had already been sent off twice in A-league history – how many other players can you think of that have had 3 red cards in the history of this competition?

Culina said he felt most sorry for the fans. Well Branko, don’t blame that on the referee. Corica made a rash challenge that was undeniably high and quite arguably studs-up and dangerous. Hold him accountable if anyone. But really, was the entertainment value compromised? Sure, it’s never nice losing a match – that always hurts. But, as many Melbourne fans will be able to relate, being down a man is not a sure recipe for a bad night’s entertainment. Continue reading →

Sydney FC 0, Melbourne Victory 1 (our report)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyFGuv6cWxk[/youtube]

The Melbourne Victory takes on Sydney FC tonight in what will be an intriguing and important match between the A-League’s two Grand Final winners.

Meanwhile, the current season’s top runners, the Newcastle Jets and the Central Coast Mariners, will battle it out on Sunday in Newcastle. Whatever the result there, a win in Sydney will push the Victory into a strong top 3 spot – potentially within game of taking first place.

But Sydney are tied with Melbourne on points, so they have as much to play for.

I made it clear before the season started that I did not fancy Sydney’s chances this year. My reasoning boiled down to the simple fact that Branko Culina’s team would struggle for goals. Sure enough, the first 4 weeks of the season indicated that I had tipped correctly, as Sydney dropped to the bottom of the table with 2 draws and 2 losses. But the past two weeks has seen a revival of sorts, Sydney pulling off consecutive 1-0 victories over Queensland and Newcastle.

Melbourne also seems to have been empowered by its last two matches (which, strangely enough, were also with Queensland and Newcastle). This season has been patchy: it took us 6 weeks to register a win, and even then it was only after a solid 60 minutes of hit-and-miss football that the team really started to get some semblance of rhythm. After 4 goals from the past two matches, Melbourne fans have a cause to be optimistic.

After a bad spell with injuries, both teams will be enjoying close to full-strength squads. Culina has Tony Popovic at his disposal; and Brazilian star Juninho has been back from injury since round 5. Meanwhile, Ernie Merrick will be pleased to have Kevin Muscat and Danny Allsopp back in full strength, after both were doubtful for last week’s encounter with Queensland. Daniel Piorkowski’s injury has turned out less serious than feared, so he can be expected in the line-up. Matthew Kemp has also been recalled to the squad, begging what seems to be the weekly question: How will Merrick organise the midfield? With Muscat, Brebner, Keenan, Kemp, Hernandez, Broxham and Caceres at his disposal, coach Merrick has a range of options at his fingertips.

This is a tough game to predict. Frankly, while I didn’t rate Sydney much at the start of the season, they have come off two solid wins and look like they might just upset my pre-season predictions. But Melbourne also approaches this game on a high. If the Victory can manage to play with the sort of intensity and fervour that characterised the final 25 minutes of play at Telstra Dome last Friday night, I’m tipping they’ll be able to topple Sydney – and by a decent margin.

My prediction: Sydney FC 1, Melbourne Victory 3

Your prediction?

Sydney FC managed their first win of the season on the weekend. And apparently, if the official A-League website is anything to go by, they did it with 10 men!

For a poor punter like me who doesn’t have Foxtel, the good ol’ A-League website is pretty much it in terms of coverage (since radio coverage is hard to come by for many games). But really, the FFA are really letting us down this season. Anyone else noticed the site is down all too often when a game is on?

An article in the Australian today says that Sydney has won the bid to play David Beckham and Co. (aka. the LA Galaxy). The game’s set to be played at Telstra Stadium on November 27.

Sucks for Melbourne, who had been contending that we should get the game. No doubt we would have been able to pack the Telstra Dome for a game like that. But Sydney has won it.

Even more infuriating than that, though, is what Sydneysiders had to say about it all. George Perry, the CEO of Sydney FC, said:

“Where else would you play the game but in the best city in the world and against the best club in the country?”

Or check this out from NSW Premier Morris Lemma:

“Sydney is now the undisputed home of football in Australia and the fans have responded magnificently in recent times.”

Undisputed home of football? Best club in the country? What enormous boulder have these blokes been hiding under?

Just to squash any false expectations raised by the previous post about Kaz Patafta, Aloisi isn’t planning to come to Melbourne (we already have our marquee player in Archie Thompson). But he is considering a move to Sydney FC. First though, he says Sydney have to get their act together and offer him some more cash for his troubles:

“The (latest) offer isn’t the seven-figure sum that everyone’s thinking because they haven’t offered me what they paid Dwight Yorke.

“It’s not that I’m looking for a lot of money here – but I’ve got a family to look after. I’m really going to take a massive cut from what I said originally I wanted, but Sydney are still not quite there. It’s not that I’m greedy or whatever people might think. But I’m an active Socceroo who can still play for at least three good years. I think if I don’t come home now I won’t be playing in the A-League.”

Daily Telegraph

I know as a Melbourne fan I should probably be hoping Aloisi decides to stay in Europe or move to the Middle East, rather than come to Sydney… But at the same time, I’m also a fan of the A-League and would like to see it succeed in Australia. Having well-recognised players such as Aloisi join A-League teams is good news for Australian football. Aloisi himself sounds pretty keen on spending a few years here, rather than just dropping by for a year and then leaving for more money elsewhere.

For the good of the A League, do you hope that Sydney sign the “right” Aloisi?